TURKEY EXPERIENCES SIGNIFICANT CHANGES: THE NEW YORK TIMES
news.am
March 8 2010
Armenia
Recent arrests of high ranking servicemen in Turkey accused of
coup d’etat attempt signal of significant changes in the country
and militaries will no more play dominant role. This might assist
strengthening of Turkish democracy, if the government and judicial
officials follow the letter of law, The New York Times reads.
For modern Turkey’s history the army had been dominant and willing
to use any means to keep Turkey a secular, Western-oriented state
including disseat of 4 democratically elected leaders since 1960. In
2007, the servicemen tried to hinder the election of Abdullah Gul
of the Islamic-influenced Justice and Development Party (AKP) as
president reasoning that his spouse wears hijab. The officers reckon
that political life weakened considerably under AKP rule and pressure
from the European Union, insisting that as part of Ankara’s bid for
membership, the military must hold more responsibility to civilian
leaders, the source says.
The recent detentions and arrests followed an article in Taraf
independent paper that said about military documents from 2003
meeting with description of coup staging. The servicemen admitted the
meeting but insisted it was focused on protecting the country from
external not domestic, threats. Since the arrests, the military’s
top leaders have shown welcome restraint. Meanwhile, relations with
the U.S. hit new course on March 4, the U.S. House Committee on
Foreign Affairs passed resolution on Armenian genocide. "We think the
resolution was unnecessary, just as Ankara’s denial of that tragedy is
self-destructive. Instead of threatening Washington with retaliation
for the vote, Ankara should focus on getting a normalization deal with
Armenia back on track. The U.S. and other Western countries need to
keep nudging Turkey forward while keeping the hope of E.U. membership
alive and credible," The New York Times writes.
Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan needs to restrain his autocratic
tendencies and seek to replace the military-imposed constitution with
the one stipulating rights for Kurds and other national minorities,
freedom of religion and press, a commitment to secular rule and jural
courts, the source concludes.